Distant North
by Vena Grey
Summary: AU. The night was cold, clear, and unusually bright. And it had plans of its own. KougaKag, lime. Part of Phantom Night.


**Distant North  
**An Inuyasha fiction by Vena Grey

_Disclaimer: Hark, I owneth not Inuyasha.__ Surprise, surprise._

_Summary: AU. __The night was cold, clear, and unusually bright. And it had plans of its own__. KougaKag, lime. Part of Phantom Night._

_Here it is, people! The conclusion to Phantom Night. I saved my favorite pairing for last…as those who are familiar with My Heart Goes Out and We Live know, I am a die-freaking-hard KougaKag fan. Heck yes. So, if you enjoy this,__ I'd love it if you'd__ please check out the other three parts to Phantom Night as well as my other KougaKag stories._

_This one's a bit longer than the rest of the Phantom Night installments, 'cause it's the finale and it's just special like that.__ Kouga's a little OOC in this story, but I tried to get the personalities as accurate as I could. But hey, this is AU—cut me some slack! ;)_

_Bon Appetit! _

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* * *

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The night was cold. Cold, clear, and unusually bright, for one a.m.; the Carpathians tended to be that way during December.

My mother, Keiko Higurashi, decided to drag her family; that being me, Kagome (age seventeen), my brother, Souta (thirteen), and my jii-chan (gods-know-how-old he is) along with her to visit friends in northern Romania for the Christmas holiday. Usually, she made the trip alone…but this time, she insisted that the lake her friends' enormous cabin bordered was a sight to behold, especially when it snowed. I had to agree; but, even cooped up near the thick glass windows with a heavy throw blanket over my shoulders and a book in my hand, I could still feel the chill of the night seeping in. The pearl-white moon and unusually bright stars only heightened this effect, their ghostly light making the light dusting of snow on the ground below appear blue.

I pulled my blanket tighter around me and shivered, setting my open book page-side-down to hold my place and sighing. Even inside, my exhale formed a white cloud of condensation.

Behind me, my brother was snoring lightly, clearly deep in a contented sleep. I smiled, glancing at my book, a classic French novel I was reading for school, one last time before grabbing my hat, gloves, scarf, and white, knee-length parka from the chair next to the desk. I couldn't sleep, and decided to step outside for a bit even though the cold Transylvanian air would do nothing but wake me up.

* * *

Opening the door was my first mistake. Not only was it late December in northern Romania, but we were also in the middle of a cold spell. The freezing air hit me like a wall when I stepped outside, and I closed my eyes, burying my face in my scarf and pulling my parka, which was not yet working its magic, tighter around my body. After pulling the door closed as quietly as possible, I walked over to the bench at the edge of the deck, sighing as I sat down and brought my legs up to myself. 

The elevated deck had a beautiful panoramic view of the lake, which sat placid and mirror-like about fifty yards away. It was even more fantastical under the almost-full moon, and the nighttime spectacle only became more lifelike as an owl hooted nearby and a wolf howled in the distance. I smiled, and pulled my cold eyelids down for a moment.

To my surprise, as soon as I closed my eyes, I heard footsteps on the deck. However, the door didn't open, so I assumed it was my mother's friend's son getting back from an evening out with friends.

"Geez, you're out late, Willem…" I said quietly, waiting for a smart remark like _'Hey, you're one to talk'_ or _'It's morning, now, you idiot' _or something along those lines. However, I got nothing; though I did hear a brief grunt of laughter accompanied by what had to be a smirk from whoever it was that had joined me. I turned my head away from the lake and opened one eye—but it wasn't the short, stalky build of Willem, the only other teenager in the house besides Souta and me. Instead, it was a taller, lithe-but-muscular man, with black hair long enough to be pulled into a ponytail. He was wearing almost all black, save for a shirt that was blue-grey, and I wouldn't have been able to see more than his outline if his skin hadn't been so light. "Who are you?"

"You'll find out…" He said as he began to walk toward me. I could hear a hint of the smirk still present in his tone, and stood up, my common sense shouting at me to go back inside and wake my mother and her friends. But my instincts had my brain on autopilot, my primal fight-or-flight response telling me to _flee_. My body, however, did neither; merely backed away slowly, unsure of what this mystery man would do. He took a long draw of air in, and turned his cobalt eyes to meet my own cerulean ones. "_Damn_, you smell good."

It all happened quickly then. He ran at me, scooped me into his arms, clapped a hand over my mouth so I couldn't scream, and leapt over the banister. Never mind the fact it was a fifteen-foot drop to the ground below, or that there were stairs about ten feet away; he landed like a cat, not dropping me in the slightest as he took off into the woods in a whirlwind of speed. My blue eyes were like saucers; whoever this guy was, he was the literal definition of _run like the wind._

Out of instinct, I grabbed onto his shirt, as if it could stop me should I fall. Despite my hat and scarf, the wind in my face was sharp and cold, like thousands of blades of ice hitting me simultaneously. I tucked my head into my arm, and the man removed his hand from my mouth. We were moving too fast for me to scream, and besides; we were far enough into the woods that the few unlikely people that were still awake wouldn't have heard me.

After what seemed like an eternity, I was set down on a rock and told not to move. The man walked off toward what looked like shallow caves, the dark forest nearly completely concealing his figure in a matter of seconds. I did what I was told, too freezing from the run to move even if I'd wanted to. And my instincts were yelling at me again; not only reminding me that I'm an idiot, but also warning me that these were not normal people I was dealing with. Normal people couldn't run _that_ fast. They'd know before they reached this spot that I was gone, I was sure of it.

I pulled back my right sleeve and looked at my watch. One twenty-four in the morning. The man returned at one thirty-two, but he wasn't alone. He was trailed closely by two equally tall men, one with a white Mohawk and the other with bi-coloured hair that was split down the middle. I heard the one that had kidnapped me address the other two superiorly, and assumed he was the leader of the group.

"Ginta, Hakkaku; follow behind the girl, make sure she doesn't try to bolt," He addressed the two, who nodded. He pointed at me. "You, come."

I scoffed. If there was one thing I hated when people spoke to me, it was calling me 'you'. "I have a name, you know."

The leader's brows raised a little, and he gave me a halfhearted glare.

"It's Kagome," I continued, pulling my jacket over myself and following as asked. I didn't know where this would get me (nor did I want to), I didn't know if these people were gang members, criminals, whatever, and I didn't know what they were capable of. Obeying was my best bet.

The leader's glare softened as he received my name, and he tried it out. "Okay, then, _Kagome._ Follow me."

My name sounded interesting on his tongue, I decided. I distracted myself with similar thoughts as obliged in this dangerous game of follow-the-leader, which could or could not kill me. On the outside, I was the epitome of calm, cool, and collected. But, on the inside, I was trembling like a lost puppy cornered by an angry master.

* * *

The walk wasn't long; a few minutes, at best. But the light from the waxing moon didn't penetrate the thick canopy the ancient pines formed along the barely-visible path, and I essentially had nothing but the footsteps in front of me to guide me. Needless to say, I followed close behind so as not to get lost. 

Eventually we reached a sheer, straight cliff, and stopped in front of a thin crevasse in the ancient rock. Several caves were built into the side, and the two called Ginta and Hakkaku left for one of them upon arrival. The leader directed me to another one not far away; one that had an intricate path in front of the entrance formed by rocks that had long since fallen and been moved. To my surprise, there was a torch and incense burning in the cave…but I didn't smell it for more than a few moments before falling into a deep sleep.

* * *

When I woke up, it was still night; but the moon was waning. '_I've been asleep for more than two days…_' I thought worriedly; my mom had probably sent out a search party for me by now. I sighed, knowing this place was difficult to find since _I_ could hardly remember how I got here. 

The first thing I noticed, other than the passing of time, when I woke up, was that my jacket, hat, scarf, gloves, and shoes were gone, as well as my watch. I wasn't cold in the cave, though, because the large torch provided a good deal of warmth. But, when I stood up and turned around to look at it, my eyes shot open. The leader, the one who'd kidnapped me, was right behind me, laying down facing the back of the cave. I screamed in shock, and he turned around with an amused expression on his face.

"Oh, good, Kagome, you're awake." I briefly wondered how he'd known my name, then remembered vaguely that I'd told him the night I was kidnapped.

"Why am I here? Where'd you put my stuff? I need to get back!" I blurted, ignoring his obvious remark. He laughed in a manner that made it obvious he wasn't telling me something, and I cocked a brow. He stood up, sauntering toward me, and put his hands on my shoulders. I was surprised at how much taller and how much stronger than me he was.

"You won't be going _anywhere, _my dear." His head lowered to the crook of my neck, and he took another long draw of air in. It took me a moment to realize, but he was _sniffing_ me! I jumped back in surprise. His hands didn't falter, nor did he change his position at all; merely drew me back to him. "_Gods,_ I love your smell. I could catch it from miles away, you know." He grinned mischievously at me.

"Y-you never answered me!" I remarked, my eyes still wide. My heart and breathing rates sped up.

"Oh, why you're here?" His hands had lowered to around my waist, holding my smaller body firmly against his toned chest. He smelled like the woods, but his scent also had a distinctively male spice to it. He was warm, warmer than most humans, even when they have a fever. It would've felt nice, had the situation been different. One of his hands raised and began running through my hair. "Well, to be my woman, of course."

_"WHAT?"_ I tried to pull away, but only managed about six inches. "Don't I have any say in the matter? I don't even know your name!"

He laughed again. His laugh was rough, but warm at the same time. "'Fraid not, my dear…" He paused a moment. "'Cause, you see, when a werewolf is set on something, they won't rest 'til it's theirs."

I gasped in shock. He was a werewolf. _'That explains the speed and strength…'_ I thought. He spoke again, breaking my train of thought.

"And, after tonight, you won't _want_ to go anywhere." Again with the I-know-something-you-don't-know tone. He stroked my hair one final time before releasing me, walking out of the cave with the same smug grin on his face. Just before he left, he turned and addressed me once more. "By the way, my name's Kouga."

And, naturally, because my shoes and protective clothing had been taken and it was probably below zero outside, I couldn't leave. So I was forced to sit there and wait for him. Perfect.

* * *

Kouga didn't return until several hours later, though it was still dark. I heard laughter, and assumed others would enter with him; but he dismissed them fondly and entered alone. I'd removed one of the layered shirts I'd been wearing hours ago, and was lying against a rock near the torch in a white tank top and the jeans I'd come in in a sort of half-sleep to pass time. I snapped out of it when Kouga came in and sat next to me, pulling me over him and securing me there with an arm across my back. And, of course, even one-handed, his grip was like steel and I couldn't move. 

"I like how willing you are. It's exciting." He turned so he had the dominant position, his hair falling over one shoulder. He looked at me like I was some kind of dessert, and I frowned. My nervousness had vanished a long time ago, when I managed to convince my common sense and my instincts that Kouga wasn't going to kill me.

"I'm not _willing._ _You're_ not exactly giving me choices."

"_And_ she's feisty. Any other tricks you haven't already shown me to turn me on?" He closed his eyes and laughed a little. He seemed to do that a lot. "I don't _need_ to give you choices. I'm the alpha; you do what I tell you to."

I let out a loud "ha!" and rolled my eyes.

"I'm not part of your wolf pack. I don't need to do _anything_ for you."

"Not part of my pack _yet,_" he said in a corrective tone. "You will be soon enough." Before I could protest, he held a long finger to my lips. "You _will_ be a wolf with us, you _will_ be my bitch, and you _will_ like it. I can promise you that." His smile was more genuine this time as his head lowered; before I could blink, his finger was gone and he was kissing me fervently, like a long-lost lover. He sucked and bit at my lips, which parted; he instantly seized the opportunity and slipped his tongue into my mouth. What's more, I didn't protest, and found my eyes drifting closed, my hands draped over his shoulders and my body telling me to kiss back. I listened and he smirked against me, even more so as my head rolled to the side, relaxed, allowing him access to my neck.

He retreated from my mouth and began to trail kisses down to the nape of my neck, his free hand sliding under my shirt for a moment before lifting the fabric over my navel and sliding his hand slowly down to my thigh. His leg came between mine, his arousal pressing up against the sensitive skin at my upper thigh. As he licked the skin at my neck and kissed me, I kissed him under his jaw, and he stopped for a moment, giving me a surprised look. I didn't know it yet, but, in wolf-speak, what I'd just done represented my bodily submission. The look didn't last more than a second before he returned to my neck, this time biting down. I let out a cry of pain, but he was gone in an instant, lapping the blood away.

"Wh…why'd you do that?" I was surprised at how out-of-breath my voice sounded, even though I'd just had the best kiss of my life.

"You'll be a wolf soon…" he said, ignoring my question.

"But _why_ me? I hardly know you, and you hardly know me!"

"That'll be fixed…" He answered the second part of my question before the first, "and, like I said before, I could smell you from miles away. It isn't like that with normal humans. For wolves, if our mate isn't already one of us, we have to find them and make them one of us, and their scent identifies them. If we don't, the scent will drive us out of our minds before we know it. _That's_ why you."

"But why'd you put me to sleep for so long when I came here?"

"The full moon was the next night, last night, and, like the fables say, that's when we transform. I didn't want you to see that yet." He closed his eyes and laid his head on my chest. "Your transformation will start soon. I'll be here with you…it's not the most pleasant experience." I nodded, my head lowering to the sand below the rock I'd been resting on.

* * *

Unpleasant was the understatement of the _century._

For the next twenty-four hours, I stayed in the cave and felt each cell in my body completely re-construct. And not just re-construct; the old ones were painfully, excruciatingly, torn apart cell by cell, making way for new ones. I felt like I was on fire. My muscles hardened, my bones became lighter and stronger, my skin became tougher, etcetera. Kouga stayed with me the whole time, not leaving the cave once. But the worst part was at the end, when my internal body temperature rose to around a hundred ten degrees Fahrenheit; but, after my transformation was complete, I didn't feel any different than I had before in that respect. But I did feel stronger, faster, and more powerful, and it made me feel sorry for all the other normal people in the world. They couldn't experience this.

Kouga was asleep when it finished, and I couldn't blame him. He slept lightly, though, and I knelt beside him, gently waking him up.

"How are you feeling?" He asked me as he sat up and grasped my hand. His hand didn't feel as hot as it had before. I smiled; my canines had gotten longer.

"Like I want to run, really, _really_ bad."

He smiled and stood up. "That's normal."

"That's not all, though. I'm also feeling like I need to go home for a bit and explain to my mom where I've been…as if she'd ever believe me." I laughed a little. "I just don't want her to think I'm dead or anything."

* * *

---**----epilogue**

When I walked back out into the wintry day barefoot and without my jacket, I was amazed that the only part of me that was cold were my feet. Also, my senses had been heightened; everything looked crisper, and I could hear and smell everything for miles. I figured it'd take practice to distinguish one smell or sound from another.

Kouga lead me back home, and my mother practically tackled me when she realized I was okay and unhurt. I explained to the best of my ability what had happened, and why I had to stay, leaving out the werewolf part. She was skeptical at first, like any good parent would be; but, with a little more explaining and convincing, she gave her consent, making me promise to call and write and such every week. I would be eighteen and legal in a few weeks, anyway; the only thing I'd be missing, besides my family, was school. But, now that I was a werewolf, I had no desire to be away from the pack.

That was the last time I ever saw my mother or my jii-chan. My grandfather passed away a few years later, as I heard later on in a letter from my mother. Souta came back to visit every now and then, and he was the only one I ever told about becoming a werewolf. Strangely enough, he believed me; even begged to become one himself, but he never did.

Kouga took me back to the wolf pack as queen bitch, alpha female, whatever you want to call it, and they welcomed me fondly, treating me like a sister. Kouga made love to me that night, and has pretty much every night since then. I bore him an heir as well as two daughters, and adopted a red-werewolf orphan boy named Shippou we found living not far from our territory.

I was amazed to find out Kouga was actually forty-two when he found me; he certainly didn't look it (he looked my age)! But I found out that werewolves live extremely long lives, around ten times longer than humans, so the difference amounted to virtually nothing overall.

We never left the Carpathians after that, though we did watch a good portion of our land become a city several decades later. Ginta and Hakkaku decided it was fun to terrorize the humans in the city on the full moon by running through the streets in our transformed state; they blamed it on a pack of dogs that supposedly lived under the streets.

The lake, however, remained the same over the centuries, thank the gods. My mother's friends and their neighbors eventually passed away, and their houses became ruins that the children liked to play in.

My grandson eventually spirited his own mate away from the human city, and the cycle began again.

Because, after all, it all started with a kidnapping.

* * *

_Well, that's it for Phantom Night! I apologize for the end, it ran away from me a little._

_For those who didn't know or couldn't tell, this is kinda-sorta my AU version of when Kouga first kidnapped Kagome in the anime, hence the love-at-first-sight deal on his part. I just wanted to make it a wee bit more logical; as logical as fantasy can be, anyway. :)_

_But, anyway; tell me what you thought! If you loved it, if you thought it was okay, if you hated it with a passion, I want to know. After all, an authoress can only get better if she knows what to improve on._

_-Vena_


End file.
